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Are classic Bond films sexist?
GoldenGun
Per ora e per il momento che verrà
Classic Bond films are sometimes said to be sexist. Even in GE his boss, the new M, says he's a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. In defence of the classic Bond films, pre-Judi Dench, I suggest we take a look at the women and how they are portrayed in them.
1960's: against all odds, most Bond girls are smart and competent.
Dr. No: Honey Ryder is intelligent, courageous and resourceful. She is not too modest to tell Bond he doesn't know anything about animals and overall she knows a lot more than he does.
From Russia with Love: To be honest, Tatiana Romanova is not the strongest female around, but she does kill Klebb so she actually saves Bond here.
Goldfinger: Pussy Galore is a damn good pilot, she changed the nerve gas and she contacted Washington. While Bond is captured throughout the final act, Pussy saves the day.
Thunderball: We never get the feeling Domino Derval is a weak woman. In the end she avenges her brother and she saves Bond while shooting main villain Largo.
You Only Live Twice: Kissy and Aki are both very competent agents of Tiger and prove to be very useful in completing the mission.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Tracy di Vincenzo is probably the most charismatic Bond girl ever, just try not to fall in love with her yourself.
1970's: the beginning of this era might be responsible for the reputation of clumsy and defenceless Bond women however.
Diamonds Are Forever: Both Plenty and Tiffany are rather stupid throughout.
Live and Let Die: Solitaire gets tricked by Bond in a very unconvincing fashion and she doesn't do much herself.
The Man with the Golden Gun: Mary Goodnight is clumsy as hell, but Miss Anders is courageous and beautifully sophisticated.
The Spy Who Loved Me: Anya never failed on a mission and she doesn't do so this time around, though Bond does help quite a bit.
Moonraker: Corinne and Manuela are all too easily impressed, NASA-expert Holly Goodhead not at all however.
1980's: there is an exception here, but overall most main Bond women are quite impressive.
For Your Eyes Only: Melina is not to be messed with, she's good with a crossbow and therefore excellent for stealth attacks like the on in the final act. She does have to make up a bit for Bibi's spoiled child behaviour.
Octopussy: Magda and Octopussy are both competent in what they do. Octopussy saves the day too, so nothing wrong here.
A View to a Kill: yes, helpless Stacey Sutton scores very little points for her screaming. Though May Day and to a lesser extent Pola Ivanova make up for that.
The Living Daylights: a point can be made for Kara Milovy as a bit defenceless, however her romance with monogamous Bond is much more believable than anything we got since OHMSS and until CR.
Licence to Kill: Pam Bouvier helps along during the whole mission and she makes herself very useful throughout, she's a brilliant pilot and Bond falls for her instead of the less intelligent Lupe. Literally.
I didn't include female villains here, except for May Day who changes sides anyway.
Any thoughts, suggestions?
1960's: against all odds, most Bond girls are smart and competent.
Dr. No: Honey Ryder is intelligent, courageous and resourceful. She is not too modest to tell Bond he doesn't know anything about animals and overall she knows a lot more than he does.
From Russia with Love: To be honest, Tatiana Romanova is not the strongest female around, but she does kill Klebb so she actually saves Bond here.
Goldfinger: Pussy Galore is a damn good pilot, she changed the nerve gas and she contacted Washington. While Bond is captured throughout the final act, Pussy saves the day.
Thunderball: We never get the feeling Domino Derval is a weak woman. In the end she avenges her brother and she saves Bond while shooting main villain Largo.
You Only Live Twice: Kissy and Aki are both very competent agents of Tiger and prove to be very useful in completing the mission.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Tracy di Vincenzo is probably the most charismatic Bond girl ever, just try not to fall in love with her yourself.
1970's: the beginning of this era might be responsible for the reputation of clumsy and defenceless Bond women however.
Diamonds Are Forever: Both Plenty and Tiffany are rather stupid throughout.
Live and Let Die: Solitaire gets tricked by Bond in a very unconvincing fashion and she doesn't do much herself.
The Man with the Golden Gun: Mary Goodnight is clumsy as hell, but Miss Anders is courageous and beautifully sophisticated.
The Spy Who Loved Me: Anya never failed on a mission and she doesn't do so this time around, though Bond does help quite a bit.
Moonraker: Corinne and Manuela are all too easily impressed, NASA-expert Holly Goodhead not at all however.
1980's: there is an exception here, but overall most main Bond women are quite impressive.
For Your Eyes Only: Melina is not to be messed with, she's good with a crossbow and therefore excellent for stealth attacks like the on in the final act. She does have to make up a bit for Bibi's spoiled child behaviour.
Octopussy: Magda and Octopussy are both competent in what they do. Octopussy saves the day too, so nothing wrong here.
A View to a Kill: yes, helpless Stacey Sutton scores very little points for her screaming. Though May Day and to a lesser extent Pola Ivanova make up for that.
The Living Daylights: a point can be made for Kara Milovy as a bit defenceless, however her romance with monogamous Bond is much more believable than anything we got since OHMSS and until CR.
Licence to Kill: Pam Bouvier helps along during the whole mission and she makes herself very useful throughout, she's a brilliant pilot and Bond falls for her instead of the less intelligent Lupe. Literally.
I didn't include female villains here, except for May Day who changes sides anyway.
Any thoughts, suggestions?
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Comments
They can't believe some of the stuff Connery did. I just smile and
say that he's just being an " Alpha Male" for the time. ;)
The difference between "Bond" being sexist and the movie being less sexist is one of the basis of the OSS 117 recent French parodies : ultra-sexist hero and a movie making fun of it.
doing in this job, etc. Although it was a very different time, so in my opinion
It's a little unfair to judge it by today's standards.
There is no evidence in the films that Bond looks down on women. On the contrary in fact, as he goes out of his way to protect them. Rather, he is just an extreme personification of general male views towards women's roles (and place?) at the time.
I wouldn't have wanted those early Bond films to be any different than they are now. For me, it's one of key reasons I find them charming.
I welcome this discussion every time.
The Bond films, particularly the early ones, do contain quite a bit of sexism/Misogynism, as in the dialogue, though @GoldenGun brings up a good point about the strength of the women in the films.
I am reminded of the furor over the "Blurred Lines" song and music video, both of which I loved. Like the song, Bond plays on many male fantasies, and the treatment of women is one of them. This is NOT to say that men wish to treat women like second-class citizens; rather, there is a deeper, psychological need for men to be in control, and this is ever so the case in a post-feminist world. Bond speaks to these fantasies. Reportedly, women sometimes have "rape fantasies" though they would never, ever want to play upon those fantasies. Bond operates in the same manner here.
Bond films tend to portray strong women, but in scenarios in which they are still subservient to men.
I hope this makes sense.
The 'PC'ness' of our modern society is driving me nuts. I'll have plenty of racial stereotypes and scantily clad wenches in my escapist entertainment, thank you very much.
I agree. It's nevertheless an aspect that always comes up when the old films are being analyzed, especially when compared to the recent ones.
That's why I thought it would be interesting for a discussion. ;)
It is a worthy discussion, no doubt. The crux of the problem, for me, is that the patronizing PC-brigade in our society seems to think we are all utter morons who cannot differentiate between reality and escapism.
We should be concentrating on getting rid of such actual behavior in our society, rather than trying to make all our entertainment overly PC.
Just as women enjoy READING about Christian Grey doing nasty things to his female conquests, men should be allowed their bit of fun as well when it comes to such things as WATCHING overtly sexist depictions of Bond girls.
In neither scenario does the consumer of this entertainment actually act on these fantasies. Which is, incidentally, why they are called 'fantasies'.
I think it is a bit hypocritical to think there's a watertight separation between representation of misogyny in fiction, and misogyny in actual behaviors. I find it's easier to talk about this when discussing rap music videoclips rather than Bond, but well...
I'd say they are maybe more politically incorrect than sexist though. You would NEVER get away with a name like Pussy in a mainstream Bond film today. For a start, kids would know the innuendo.
Yeah, when I go and see a new Bond film and it isn't teeming with racial stereotypes it really pisses me off.
*joke*
Passive agressive PC..? :)
Bollocks to that my dear fellow - I have no problem at all thrashing hookers on GTA V one minute and then arguing the inequality of female employment opportunities the next.
And nobody should be making excuses for people who hide behind the 'mysogonistic nature' of the media or videogames as a reason for antisocial or discriminating behavior.